what you would do... is research PROPAGATION of such, using the latin name ... and.. presuming its not a whole plant... you would try to root the variegated part ... if that is possible.. with this plant ... e.g. every now and then.. a green arb.. throws a variegated branch ... so we let that mature to second year wood [because that it what roots]... if it makes it thru winter ... and then we root that small piece ... and then you grow it for 5 to 10 years.. to see if it turns into a decent plant... etc ... of course.. it all can happen much faster in different plant kingdoms .... ken

Bernd, the last photo of your August Moons and Abigua Moonbeam is luminous and glowing with life. Our weather here 25 miles NW of Boston was cool and snowing mushy stuff last night. The potted hosta under the covered patio do not appear to have succumbed to the cold yet. However, clumps of big grasses out in the weather were down on the ground. Perhaps this coming storm will deal the hostas enough cold to strike them down too. The one which is looking good as it ever did is the Sum & Substance, its root system required I squeeze it into a five-gallon bucket. BIG root ball. I took shots of several also doing fine in their original pots, the ones from Robert Seawright in Carlisle, MA, all field raised I'm thinking, they are bearing up well in the weather. But not big clumps of course.

That picure of Ken's Elatior is not representative. I was going to post a picture of I have of last June, but I forgot you can't do that here (no time for Photobucket). You have some others that are bigger, no? The other question that could be asked is how tall? Empress Wu is supposed to be it. Clarence Owens has a seedling of Elatior x High Noon that has to be close to four feet tall. One can sit under it and have it not touch your head. It is amazing. The leaves on Big John can be 18" wide. Cylops may be even bigger and only a four or five years old. Jerry

eOld 1900's greenhouse /field nursery cleanliness operating procedures required bleaching pots/tools/accessories with dilute bleach ( 10% or less solutions) to kill any pathogenic bacteria/soilborne fungi that would quickly attack plant roots. With that background our family has done this since opening the family greenhouse in the 1920's and the nursery business subsequent. My mother began bleaching hosta divisions when that was the only way to propagate them (before tc) and had very good success with overall plant disease control. I have done the same since.. After dividing, using cool water to dilute, leave roots in diluted bleach solution up to one hour or until the root tissues smell of bleach when you remove them. Remove and air dry then replant. Avoid bleach solution temps getting warm, leaving them to soak in the sun or letting them soak too long so the tissue as the root issue will get soft.